A small community center across from George Mason’s Fairfax Campus is up for redevelopment, and Fairfax City is weighing options for what to do with it. One possibility is to make it student housing, a move that could help bring the school and its surrounding community together.

Image from the City of Fairfax.

Called Green acres, the ten-acre plot of land housed an elementary school from 1961-2000, and is now home to a small community center. The building is in dire need of repair, and last year the Green Acres Feasibility Committee suggested an expanded community center, a new school, or privately owned student or senior housing as possible new uses.

The Fairfax City School Board currently holds a covenant over the land, and can build a new school there if it decides that’s what it needs. That the city’s school-age population is growing (it has steadily increased over the last 15 years, from 2,652 in 1999 to 3,170 in 2015) could be a reason to do that.

The feasibility committee has received reports on other possible sites for relocating the community center. City staff identified Van Dyck Park, City Hall, and the current site of Paul VI Catholic High School as among the seven “finalists” for locations of a new center. Because Green Acres is at the edge of the city, staff documents note that perhaps a more central location like Van Dyck Park or City Hall would provide better accessibility to residents. There is, however, limited space on the City Hall campus and using land on Van Dyck Park would require collaboration with the Fairfax County.

CAPTION CAPTION CAPTION. Image from the City of Fairfax.

Green Acres could become student housing

Over the past four years, city and Mason officials have taken steps to integrate the campus with Fairfax City’s historic downtown, a 15-minute walk down the road. A city and school more in step with one another could mean public and private amenities, from transit to retail, that better served residents of all kinds. Making Green Acres a place where students live could be a great way to help unify Mason’s historically isolated campus with the surrounding community. The very definition of a college town is, almost universally, students and “townies” living amongst each other, and Green Acres is one of only a handful of options for providing private off-campus housing that’s within the immediate vicinity of classrooms.

Green Acres sits within the City of Fairfax and right next to George Mason University. Image from the City of Fairfax.

With the city currently finishing a review of its zoning ordinances and on the path towards reviewing its entire Comprehensive Plan, now would be the time to set student-centric priorities for Green Acres. While there are significant challenges, like reconciling the value of the land with housing that’s affordable for students, city officials should prioritize working with developers who are interested in extending the student population further into the Fairfax community.

The feasibility committee, which includes representatives from Fairfax City’s city council, residents, and George Mason, will present a white paper on the option of student housing to the council within the next month. Jon Stehle, who was recently elected to the council and served on the Green Acres Feasibility Committee, told the Fairfax Times earlier this month that the report would be “a pretty good analysis of how to think about what to put there.”

After the committee weighs in on how realistic turning Green Acrews into student housing is, city officials will have a better understanding for how the land should be used, and likely integrate that discussion into its overall Comprehensive Plan review.